Rerouni Kenshin eps 33-62, and randomness

[meganbmoore]

Had lunch with parents.  Dad had a LOT of onions on his hotdog...I was sitting across the table and my eyes were watering...odd, as I used to be able to chop onions and be fine for the longest time.

Didn't go to the booksale today.  Think I'll check in tomorrow, when they'll be really wanting to get rid of things because they need the space.

Damon(Orlando Bloom look-alike manager of Waldenbooks) came back from a managers' meeting and today was his first day back...was loaded down with a few bags of books that he's letting customers peek at...snagged one...paranormal romance...story sounds promising but the descriptions give me slight concern about certain elements being given a little more emphasis than I like.  We'll see.

Speaking of Waldenbooks, these past couple of weeks, they've finally got in some good new manga.  I think it's been about a month since I posted about manga here...I've read probably 40 manga in that time, but most of them had "why did I want to check this out?" "Why did I like this series?" "The magic's gone...what wrong with this mangaka?" reactions.  Have about twelve that ended up on the keeper shelf...will post about them today or tomorrow, once I finish the second Buso Renkin.

Also watched more Kenshin.

So, for the most part, we have an almost word-for-word adaptation of the manga storyline, though I believe the timing of a few things was changed a bit, and I seem to remember Tae’s sister having a bigger role than this. Things were moving along at a pretty good pace up until the fight with Shishio, though I saw the writing on the wall when it took two episodes on Sojiro’s backstory. But...you have 4 guys–Kenshin, Aoshi, Saito, and Shishio–who are pretty much portrayed as the best fighters currently alive in Japan(though I should say four of the five because it’s possible Sojiro could beat, or at least match, Saito and Aoshi) and Sano, who, while he’s not quite in the same league, is only a step or two below and is closing the gap. Those kinds of fights are the kind that don’t last very long because they can’t, not the kind that lasts forever. It wasn’t to the point where I stopped paying attention or anything, but I was getting impatient waiting for it to wrap up. However, aside from too much fluffiness at the beginning of the series, that’s really the only complaint I have about it. I don’t count a few questionable dub choices–not the fault of the original anime–though I have to wonder WHY all Kansai dialects in anime get hillbilly dubs...

The often lighthearted exterior aside, this really is one of the most mature anime’s out there, I think. Megumi is probably the most mature and together anime character who’s anything more than a responsible adult extra. She takes no bull and doesn’t endlessly chase after the guy...she knows what’s what with him and steps aside, but makes sure Kaoru knows how important that is, and that she’ll take care of him. I like that they let her and Kaoru be slightly prickly friends, instead of forcing too much antagonism on them. Kaoru is just so simple and straightforward that Megumi can’t resist teasing her at times. Yahiko is a prickly kid, but his only real problems come from the fact that he keeps having stability yanked away from him, but, even though he won’t admit it, he knows that now he always has Kaoru to turn to when things go wrong. As an aside, I find great amusement in what exact and defined ideas Yahiko and Sano have about Kenshin and Kaoru’s relationship. Much more so than Kenshin and Kaoru themselves have.

Kaoru is about the most normal girl to ever show up in an anime, average height, average build, somewhere halfway between plain and pretty, she has a short fuse and is something of a tomboy due to being raised as both a daughter and a son, but her personality is actually rather quiet, almost shy. About the only thing that really makes her different from other girls is the fact that she’s a better fighter than other girls, having been raised as the heir to a samurai dojo. But, unlike most tomboys, she doesn’t spend all her time dressed like a boy and trying to act like one...she looks and acts like a normal 18 year old girl, just one who has a lot of responsibility and has to fulfill the role of son and daughter. A girl closer to normal anime stereotypes would never work for Kenshin...Misao he would have left after episode one, and Megumi’s more forceful, controlling personally would have made him flee. But quiet, unassuming(if temperamental) Kaoru makes him feel comfortable and safe, and is the only thing that could bring him out of his shell.

Of the three main female characters, Misao is really the only one who’s like typical anime females. She’s almost too much for Kenshin, but anyone with even a little less energy and chipperness likely would never work for Aoshi. Kaoru, for example, would be sad and quiet and they’d both mope around in angst. Megumi would throw things at his head, call him a loser and leave. But Misao has too much energy to be ignored, and too much determination to ever give up.

Kenshin, Sano, Aoshi and Saito are, of course, all hopelessly screwed up. Kenshin hides it well under his sweet and passive exterior, but he’s really just bottled it all up inside so he can try to pretend it’s not there. He’s not on a self-destructive path like Sano and Aoshi, he’s on no path. It’s not until Kaoru comes along that he feels safe enough to stop for a little while, and has to start facing things. Sano and Aoshi, on the other hand, have been diving headfirst into the deep end of self-destruction for ten years. Because he’s still young, Sano hadn’t gone too far down that path yet before Kenshin came along and yanked him off that path, but if he’d continued down it, he probably would have put Shishio and Aoshi to shame. Instead he’s kinda trudging along in the underbrush between two paths, but generally leaning towards the stable path. Aoshi was too shut off and too far down the path already for anything to get through to him yet, so nothing could really be done about him until he reached the end of the path and burned out, so that he can stumble around until he finds a better path.

Of the four, only Saito really has it together from his first appearance. His side lost. Fine. What needs to be done still needs to be done, no matter who’s in charge. Just because it’s not the system he wanted to be in charge, that doesn’t mean he can’t work in it to accomplish his goals. However, while he doesn’t dwell on the past overly much, he can’t abandon it, either. While his whole "letting things slide with Kenshin and there’s no need to let him know I’m alive." bit looks like stubborn ungratefulness, I think Saito and Kenshin both know that a part of them will always be on that street ten years ago. Unless they have something besides "let bygones be bygones" as an incentive to not fight, neither can trust themselves to be in the same room as the other without reverting to the past. Incidentally, I loved it in the manga, but I loved it even more in the anime when they’re deciding what to do with Eichi(or whatever the kid’s name is) You can hear Saito thinking "Do not make me be human and say I’ll find a place for the kid. Do not make me admit I have a wife. Do not make me be human. I hate you both." Somehow, I think the kid stayed there for a while(also, note that it apparently took Saito a while to make it to Kyoto after that...I think someone was handed a list of "honey-do’s" the second he walked through the door.)

One thing I like is that, unlike most anime and manga, the long term physical affects of the characters’ lifestyles is adressed. Granted, it’s addressed more in the Jinchu arc and just touched on here, but for all his skill, Kenshin is a small guy, doing physical feats more suited to someone of Sano’s build. There’s a reason Hiko has a body like that...it’s the body you NEED to pull off those moves. Only skill and determination have allowed Kenshin to continue as long as he has, but in the end, he’ll pay a higher toll than others. And, while it’s never directly addressed, Megumi(again, in Jinchu) makes it clear that Sano has abused his hands to the point where he’s in danger of eventually losing use of them(good thing he’s pretty much destined to end up married to a managing doc tor) If nothing else, he can probably never use a sword, even if he wanted to(as good as he is in unarmed combat, I doubt he really wants the hassle of looking after a weapon anymore)

If I understand correctly, after this(arrival back in Kyoto) the anime completely branches off from the manga. As I’ve liked the original material so far, I don’t mind that it’s all new stuff, but I’m sad that Jinchu won’t get a proper animation. Samurai X provided the highlights well enough, but lost the heart in favor of the angst. Before watching the anime, I assumed it was left out because it’s darker, but I guess not. They left Shishio, Kenshin, Sano, Sojiro and Anji’s origins intact, all of which are rather dark and bloodsoaked. The only thing I can think of in Jinchu that tops that is how Enishi makes Kenshin think Kaoru is dead, but I don’t think it’s enough of a jump past what’s already been shown to really be the reason. Guess I’ll just have to sulk and hope they eventually do it.

And back to watching.